It's programs. Always the program. And the school size. Markets are what fanboys from the Eastern Indie schools say when they want to stick it to other peer schools.

And who are you calling "small?" Considering the size of the some of the MWC schools, yeah, they'd fit right into the Big XII. Heck, UNM would be the second largest school in the conference. CSU would be near the middle, ahead of OSU and KSU, and just behind WVU, OU, and KU.

When the B12 could have best acted, they didn't. They could have developed at least some sort of soft linkage to WVU. It is a conference with some excellent individual schools, but as a conference as a whole, it is short on passion and collective pride. It emerged from a marriage of convenience that lost four and added two.

If much of the articles and sports' commentaries on the subject are true, including recent ones, UT looks at it as "their schedule', a controllable and dependent grouping that is the best available and re-assembled, short of numbers with the potential to upset the apple cart. The sacrifice, no CCG. Never mind, if certain schools win the conference for a given year, they shall be graced with playoff appointments anyway without the extra hurddle. It's an expectation, but the mindset nevertheless. Texas knows they have quality options elsewhere if they compromise on the conditions/demands. So, they have opted for retaining a politically controllable set-up, with it's lucrative outcomes. The dependents, including OU & KU with sub-dependents, play along in the hierarchy. Listen to Bowlsby's statements, it doesn't sound like any kind of progressive; it's the old order of the Beebe days, with a more polished tone and verbal, unacting attentiveness. Dodd has got to be happy. WVU, and any other among them, can measuredly gripe, knowing they don't have better alternatives available before them.

One would think that a conference with the term "12" in it would strive to be really 12 again; they were very assertive in retaining the name. And it would renew the CCG. There are expansion candidates, though imperfect, for them out there, but the conference power sources don't want them and are not motivated to seek them.

Despite the GoR, this conference will hold fast for a number of years, until the pressure builds for another implosion. It's not 'if', but 'when'.

Despite the GoR, this conference will hold fast for a number of years, until the pressure builds for another implosion. It's not 'if', but 'when'.

Very true. Texas will take and take until either they decide to go make more money elsewhere or they make a demand so outlandish that the others just can't give in to. Wherever Texas goes Oklahoma will follow. They could easily become part of a 16 member SEC or 14 member Pac-14.

That's their legacy from inception. I still wonder what could have been had a Utah school gotten the last spot over Baylor/Tech.

This could be a game of chicken between the Big XII and WVU should WVU not age well athletically in the conference. Cut 'em loose, so to speak. The kind of schools most like the Big XII are in the west, but the schools that bring in television dollars are toward the other coast.

CSU is certainly a small market as compared to Orlando and St Peterburg

CSU is in the Denver TV market. Tampa-St. Pete is the 14th largest market, Denver is 17 and Orlando is 19. There are more CSU alums in the Denver market than CU alums.

Yeah, CSU's more Denver than CU. CSU has also tended to recruit in the Big XII's footprint, although academically, it's very West Coast. I often consider CSU's B12's chances as slim because of its "hippie school" reputation, especially in an extremely Red State league. But who knows...CSU's a flagship and a land grant, and that's pretty much how conferences like the B1G, PAC, and Big XII like their members.

UNM's the sleeper, though. On their school size alone, they'd be the B12's second biggest school, and in the top half of the PAC, too. Just...invest in football!

Cutter, if CSU is still some sort of 'hippie school', that's not cutting edge but 40 yrs. behind the times . Seriously, CSU is in the MWC, certainly not a bastion of eastern establishment liberalism (Columbia University-types). And the Calif. schools of the MWC are of another persona compared to the the Cal./Standfords'. I get what you are saying in that CSU is not very culturally conservative or looks so traditionalist, or prides academics a bit better than many others, but CSU wants what most all do---a lot more money, and the B12 has it over the MWC. CSU's neighbor and rival, AFA, has the willingness to pass on a B12 enticement, but the AFA knows their limitations and is attached to the pockets of the feds.

Cutter, if CSU is still some sort of 'hippie school', that's not cutting edge but 40 yrs. behind the times . Seriously, CSU is in the MWC, certainly not a bastion of eastern establishment liberalism (Columbia University-types). And the Calif. schools of the MWC are of another persona compared to the the Cal./Standfords'. I get what you are saying in that CSU is not very culturally conservative or looks so traditionalist, or prides academics a bit better than many others, but CSU wants what most all do---a lot more money, and the B12 has it over the MWC. CSU's neighbor and rival, AFA, has the willingness to pass on a B12 enticement, but the AFA knows their limitations and is attached to the pockets of the feds.

Still, I doubt the B12 is expanding anytime soon.

I think of it as a bad likeness of fit for both sides. CSU's more "PAC" than Boulder institutionally. If CU was so adamant of having more western schools, CSU will be worse. Plus, when the conference lost Colorado, they kind of went a bit over the top dismissing the importance of that region. I doubt they go back for State.

Despite the GoR, this conference will hold fast for a number of years, until the pressure builds for another implosion. It's not 'if', but 'when'.

Very true. Texas will take and take until either they decide to go make more money elsewhere or they make a demand so outlandish that the others just can't give in to. Wherever Texas goes Oklahoma will follow. They could easily become part of a 16 member SEC or 14 member Pac-14.

Texas is not going to the SEC.they want to be the "Big Dog" in a pond that they control.They want to be number 1.not one of many.JMHO

I know I heard somewhere that the Big 12 would try to fill the gap between Iowa State and West Virginia if they were to expand. Their only good options would be Cincy and Memphis. Decent sized new markets, near other Big 12 members and good facilities and programs (other than Memphis football) make them more realistically than Mountain West schools who would stretch the conference footprint too much.

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